Nino's is a tiny little restaurant with probably only space for about thirty diners; when we arrived at 7.30 there were only 4 other people there so I was questioning the necessity of my reservation, but by about 8.30 it was completely full. The good thing is that you don't feel crammed in like sardines at all, and it's always comforting to know that other people think it's worth eating there!
There is no website for the new Pangbourne Nino's, so I was going in blind - simultaneously exciting and annoying, as there is nothing I love more than a pre-meal online menu perusal. However, so none of you have to go through that if you don't want to, here is a picture of the menu for your viewing pleasure
So many of the starters were really tempting, but I decided to steer clear of anything breadcrumbed or fried (goodbye, breaded mozzarella...); I wanted something a bit lighter, so I went for the "Calamaria Diavola" - squid in a spicy tomato and white wine sauce.
This starter really was absolutely delicious. The tomato sauce was light and fresh, with a slight heat and a hint of basil, but nothing too overpowering. The squid was perfectly cooked - not rubbery in the slightest. There was also a generous amount of squid, and the bread was a brilliant addition with which to mop up the sauce - and when I had run out of bread I'm not ashamed to say I ate the rest of it like soup - that's how good it was!
Paula had the Insalata Caprese
Nicely presented, with thick slices of creamy mozzarella; I didn't try it but Paula enjoyed it, and I guess there's only so much which could go wrong with a simple (yet classic!) starter like this.
For main, I ended up going with the Pizza Vesuvio, topped with salami, pepperoni, and peperoncino. I debated for a long while over having the mushroom risotto, but my mum makes an absolutely delicious one, so I was wary of being disappointed!
The pizza was really tasty, with a base which stayed crispy despite the abundance of cheese (a big tick!), and nice salty meat toppings, and a kick from the peperoncino. However, I had two complaints. The first is minor, but the chillis were concentrated to basically one area of the pizza, which was a shame as it meant that slice was really hot, but the others lacked the chilli kick which I really enjoy. The second was slightly more important - the pizza was really difficult to cut! It was probably to do with the crispyness of the base, but I really felt like they should have either given me a pizza slicer, or a properly sharp knife rather than just an ordinary one, as by the time I had managed to hack some slices out, the pizza was getting cold. The flavours were still really good and I enjoyed it a lot but I would just have liked to have to put in a bit less elbow grease to get there!
Paula had the Penne Alfredo - penne topped with wild mushrooms, cream, garlic and parmigiano
I'm not the biggest pasta fan (unless it's in a bake with loads of cheese!), but Paula did enjoy it, apart from one flaw - it had quite a lot of parsley in it, and Paula really doesn't like parsley! However, I definitely wouldn't say that reflects badly on Nino's in any way, as for most people that would probably add a nice freshness to the dish - it was just a shame that Paula isn't keen on it!
Also I should probably say here that the starters and mains were brought out really quickly and efficiently, and the service was extremely good - very welcoming and friendly waitresses!
For anyone who was worried about the absence of desserts on my menu photos:
I was so pleased to see profiteroles on the menu as I had just been saying to Paula that my favourite Italian in York did amazing ones, so had started myself craving them! Paula had been hoping to see lemon tart on the menu, but lemon cheesecake seemed a reasonable substitute.
The choux pastry for the profiteroles was extremely light and puffy, and filled with lovely thick cream, and the chocolate sauce drizzled over the top was warm and gooey; it was a very decadent dessert! Sadly Paula wasn't overly keen on her cheesecake - she said she would have preferred a thicker base and less topping. As I'm not a cheesecake fan I didn't try it and so couldn't comment on the taste; however, the portion size was nice and generous so that's one positive aspect (unless you're not keen on it, I suppose....!).
Although there were things which I would improve (mainly just buying better knives!), and for Paula some things didn't meet her personal taste, I think Nino's is a really lovely restaurant which serves great Italian food, a particular highlight of which was definitely the squid starter. I would definitely return and I will also be putting Quattro near the top on my "places to try in Reading" list!
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